CANADIAN CULTURE


Canadian culture has historically been influenced by British, French, and Aboriginal cultures and traditions. Additionally, it has been influenced heavily by American culture because of its close proximity and the migration between the two countries. The great majority of English speaking immigrants to Canada between 1755-1815 were Americans who were drawn there by promises of land or exiled because of their loyalty to Britain during the American War for Independence.
American media and entertainment are popular, and further, dominant, in English Canada; conversely, Canadian cultural products and entertainers are successful in the U.S. and worldwide. Subsequently, many cultural products are marketed toward a unified "North American" or global market.

Canada is geographically vast and ethnically diverse. It can be said then, that Canadian culture has also been greatly influenced by immigration from all over the world. Many Canadians value multiculturalism and see Canadian culture as being inherently multicultural. Multicultural heritage is the basis of Section 27 of the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms.

National symbols are significantly influenced by natural, historical, and First Nations sources. Particularly, the use of the maple leaf as a Canadian symbol dates back to the early 18th century and is shown on its current and previous flags, the penny, the coat of arms, and on the jersey's of the Toronto Maple Leafs within the NHL. Other prominent symbols include the beaver, Canada Goose, Common Loon, the Crown, the RCMP, and more recently the totem pole and Inukshuk.
Canada's official national sports are hockey in the winter and lacrosse in the summer. Hockey is a nation wide known pastime and the most popular spectator sport in the country. It is the most popular sport Canadians play. Canada's six largest metropolitan areas – Toronto, Montreal, Vancouver, Ottawa, Calgary, and Edmonton – have franchises in the National Hockey League (NHL), and there are more Canadian players in the league than from all other countries combined. Behind hockey, other popular sports exist such as football which is played professionally in the Canadian Football League (CFL). Canada will be the host country for the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and Whistler, British Columbia.


Canadian hockey rivals- the Toronto Maple Leafs and the Ottawa Senators
Picture retrieved from Google Images
HOCKEY.jpg
References: The information throughout this space is taken from exerpts of wikipedia. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Canada


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